MMA News: Biggest Statement Victories From ONE: Full Circle

Mixed martial arts (MMA) fans were treated to a night full of action with ONE: Full Circle last Friday, February 25, and some fighters took advantage of their opportunities.

Reinier de Ridder

When a fighter comes out to boxing legend Roy Jones Jr.’s “Can’t Be Touched,” there is a sense of impending doom awaiting their opponent and Rainier de Ridder put on one of his best performances to date against Kiamrian Abbasov.

As soon as the bell rang, the two-division ONE champion went to work and took Abbasov down to the ground with a body lock, which allowed de Ridder to set the tone for the entire match.

Abbasov simply had no answers for the otherworldly grappling game of “The Dutch Knight” and tapped out to the champion’s patented head-and-arm choke early in the third round.

After beating the best that the promotion can offer him, de Ridder challenged Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend Andre Galvao to a match at ONE X while also boldly declaring his intentions to fight for the ONE heavyweight title in the post-fight interview.

Roman Kyrklia

The ONE light heavyweight kickboxing title stayed around the waist of Roman Kryklia after steamrolling Turkish opponent Murat Aygun.

Aygun had his moments during the fight, but the 6-foot-6 Ukrainian’s beastly combination of height and reach was too much for the challenger to overcome.

Kryklia put down Aygun with a short right hand and capped off his title defense with a second knockdown with a three-hit combo that he started with a kick to the body before throwing two hooks to his head for the champion’s 25th knockout victory.

The champion has remained undefeated since joining the Singapore-based promotion in 2019 and hinted to Chilson in the post-fight interview that he might be gunning for the heavyweight kickboxing title if given the opportunity.

Vitaly Bigdash

A trilogy fight four years in the making and Vitaly Bigdash would turn out to be the one who takes all the marbles after defeating Aung La N Sang by unanimous decision to take their trilogy.

Bigdash fully leaned in on his strengths on the ground and rode it straight to victory, taking the second and third rounds with his strong wrestling ability and control of Aung La N Sang.

The two rivals shared a moment together to bury the hatchet of their storied history, with Aung La N Sang apologizing for his controversial win and Bigdash telling “The Burmese Python” that he would possibly train with him in pursuit of the middleweight title currently held by de Ridder.

In the post-fight interview, Bigdash gave his flowers to Aung La N Sang and made it known that de Ridder is next up on his list.

“[Reinier] de Ridder, you’re next. I’m breaking your face [and] I’m breaking your nose,” Bigdash announced.

Fabricio Andrade

The Brazilian prospect continues to dazzle the audiences with his stunning performances, more so by knocking out Team Lakay’s Jeremy Pacatiw to open the main card.

Pacatiw came out swinging against Andrade and had a more aggressive game plan, but it was this same aggression that allowed the Brazilian to measure his distance before firing off the knee to the body that would spell the end for the Filipino early in the first round.

Andrade, the No. 4-ranked bantamweight, boldly declared that he is the uncrowned king of the bantamweight division and it will be interesting to see how he fares against the other ranked fighters in his weight class moving forward.

Drex Zamboanga

Rising Filipino prospect Drex Zamboanga, two years removed from his promotional debut, put on a noteworthy performance against Rahul Raju in the opening fight of the lead card.

Zamboanga got to show off his takedown defense early on, but Raju remained composed and was able to bring down the 28-year-old later on.

“T-Rex” turned the tables on Raju when the fight got back to the feet and promptly knocked out the 30-year-old Indian with an uppercut that landed flush through Raju’s defense.

“One of the reasons I moved to lightweight is because I want to have heavy hands, heavy strikes, and then to also dominate in lightweight. I can stay here in lightweight or in any division, you know. I’m very confident to move up in any kind of division,” said Zamboanga of his plans moving forward.